disruptive mobilities

journal_06_01_2019

disruptive mobilities

disruptive ... what a word. we keep hearing it more and more. trump certainly had his share in it, big data as well. however, it‘s definitely my word of the year 2018. certainly, it raises in many respects rather negative associations, on the other hand though, it stands for progress and an abundance of new possibilities. a real two-faced creature. in general and in terms of mobility. so how do we react on those developments?

well, some upcoming disruptions like autonomous driving, big-data driven new business models or climate change driven adaptions are still a bit abstract and seemingly too far out for most of us. others, are already quite tangible irritations, like the ‚diesel-affäre‘ which reduced the resale value of our cars dramatically, or the „feinstaubbelastung“, the particulate matter pollution, that confronted us directly with the health risks of nowadays traffic, or related to the two of them, the „diesel fahrverbote“, the diesel driving bans in a growing number of german cities, that poses from 2019 on a very noticeable disruption of our personal mobility habits. not just in terms of expenses, but also in terms of convenience and enjoyment. all in all quite annoying and direct, forcing us to react, and not just to accept and then continue with our daily routine.

no, this time it will be different! this simultaneous attack on our purse and our beloved convenience represents, in my opinion, a real change agent. not too many years ago, we encountered one of these game changers already – back then it was the too dynamic, and too tangible increase of the gas prices. the clear and present attack on our money. the automotive industry got quite disrupted back then – and, it was indirectly the starting point for the rise of the e-mobility.

the current developments will have an even bigger impact on our lives. whereas back then our car-centric mobility was still not seriously questioned, it could be different this time. supported by other developments such as connectivity, the growing mobility services offering, the younger urbanites being mostly disinterested in cars but opening up to smaller electrically powered means of transportation, a higher importance of health and environmental issues, plus a slowly growing political insight in the need to change, will cause the birth of a new mobility era. more heterogeneous, more sharing, more just in time, more social, probably more fun and if we get lucky, even environmentally more responsible.

ultimately we‘re facing exciting times. sure, with plenty of threats, but also with unprecedented possibilities and opportunities to change things for the better – for the world, the people, the economy and last but not least – our future mobility. let‘s tackle it!